The Seattle Seahawks have announced that starting quarterback Geno Smith is questionable heading into Week 14 against the San Francisco 49ers with a groin injury he suffered in practice. Head coach Pete Carroll has said the team will have to "wait and see" how Smith feels before the game to see if he will play. In other words, there is a decent chance Drew Lock starts for the Seahawks against the 49ers.
Geno Smith was listed as questionable ahead of Week 12 against San Francisco, too. He had suffered a triceps bruise in Week 11 against the Los Angeles Rams and missed all of the practices ahead of Week 12. While Smith wasn't good against the 49ers, neither was the team overall. Plus, the 49ers are a really good football team that has the potential to stop any quarterback.
But many 12s for weeks have been clamoring for Drew Lock to take the QB1 spot from Smith. Arguments for Lock say that Lock simply has not had a chance to show what he can do while Smith has been bad in 2022. Lock not having a chance to play is factually true, though we have to trust that the coaches have based their QB1 decision on what they see every day in practice, in meetings, in training camp, and so on. The coaches know better than we keyboard warriors do.
Drew Lock might gets his chance to start for the Seattle Seahawks in Week 14
Still, Drew Lock does have a great arm with the ability to throw the ball to any point on the field. He also appears to be a good athlete. His ability to roll out might come in handy against a fearsome 49ers pass rush.
But can Lock make good decisions? His career interception rate is 2.9 percent which is pretty high. That is over 722 career passes. In three years with the Seahawks, and over 1,074 passes, Smith has an interception percentage of 2.0 percent.
The worry is that Lock will try to do too much against San Francisco's great defense and get picked off a couple of times. He also seems to want to force big plays which one simply cannot do against San Francisco. Lock fans, though, if Lock does play poorly (and he has an 18.1 quarterback rating in 2023) will have a built-in excuse that the 49ers' defense is good and Lock wasn't the issue.
While Drew Lock fans could very well get their wish that he starts in Week 14, the Seattle Seahawks' wish for a victory is unlikely. San Francisco is the better team, no matter if Drew Lock or Geno Smith is playing. Smith would likely give Seattle a much better chance to win against the 49ers, though. However, if Lock starts and plays well, as a Seahawks fan, I am OK with being wrong.